U.S. presidential election, 1876

Notes:
In 1876 the election for the President of the United States ended in a dispute. Democrat Samuel J. Tilden received 184 electoral votes, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes received 165, and 20 electoral votes were uncertain, two different sets of returns being certified. The Electoral Commission was formed to settle the result. The disputed results involved 19 electors from Florida, Louisana, and South Carolina as well as one from Oregon. In those states, the official returns favored the Democrats, but the elections were marked by fraud and threats of violence against Republican voters and the Republican dominated electoral commissions were able to throw out enough votes to allow the Republicans to win those states. The result was two sets of returns, one certified by the governor favoring the Republicans and one certified by the state legislatures favoring the Democrats.

In the case of Oregon, the votes were clearly in favor of the Republicans. However, one of the Republican electors was a postmaster. The Democratic governor claimed that the elector was constitutionally disqualified on the grounds of holding a Federal office and therefore substituted a Democratic elector in his place.

The Electoral Commission was formed by an act of Congress to settle the result. The law was signed on January 29, 1877.

Fifteen members were chosen to compose the Commission: five from the United States Senate, five from the United States House of Representatives, and five from the Supreme Court of the United States. Since the Senate was controlled by the Republicans, three of the Senators were Republicans and two were Democrats. Similarly, since the Democrats controlled the House, three Democratic Representatives and two Republicans (one of whom was future President James A. Garfield) were chosen. Finally, two Republican and two Democratic Supreme Court Justices were chosen, and these four were to choose a fifth Justice, to make the Commission as impartial as possible.

Unfortunately, before the Supreme Court members elected their fifth member, the expected choice, Justice David Davis, was elected by the Illinois legislature to the Senate. Another Justice had to be chosen, and it was Justice Joseph P. Bradley, considered the most nonpartisan of the Republicans on the Court. Bradley was, however, still a Republican, and on every disputed electoral vote, he joined the other 7 Republicans to make an 8-7 majority. Consequently, all the disputed votes were awarded to Hayes, who was declared the winner of the electoral vote, 185-184.

The members of the Electoral Commission:

The Democrats in the Senate threatened a filibuster to prevent the commission from reporting its results. In order to prevent this, the Republicans negotiated an agreement known as the Compromise of 1877 in which federal troops were withdrawn from the South, at least one Southerner was appointed to the Hayes cabinet, and economic benefits promised to help industrialize the South. The withdrawal of Federal troops marked the end of Reconstruction and post-Civil War efforts to bring about racial equality.

The decision was handed down on March 2, 1877, declaring Rutherford B. Hayes the winner of the election. The election was widely viewed as having been stolen, and Hayes was dubbed "Ruthefraud".

This election was one of the most contentious presidential elections in United States history, with many similarities to the U.S. presidential election of 2000.

See also: President of the United States, U.S. presidential election, 1876, History of the United States (1865-1918)